Geographic location Shanghai is situated at 31'14' north latitude and 121'29' east longitude. Bordering on Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in the west, Shanghai is washed by the East China Sea in the east and Hangzhou Bay in the south. North of the city, the Yangtze River pours into the East China Sea. At the central point along China's coastal line, Shanghai has ready transportation facilities. Thanks to its advantageous geographic location, Shanghai has both excellent sea and river ports and a vast hinterland

Elevation extremes: The average elevation is about four meters above sea level.

Except for a few hills lying in the southwest corner, most parts of Shanghai are flat and belong to the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta. According to the inspection of 2000, Shanghai covers a total area of 6,340.5 square kilometers, about 0.06 percent of the national territory, including 6,219 square kilometers of land area and 122 square kilometers of water area. It extends 120 km from south to north and 100 km from east to west. Its Chongming Island, covering an area of 1,041 square kilometers, is the third largest island in China.

Climate:

With a pleasant northern subtropical maritime monsoon climate, Shanghai enjoys four distinct seasons, with generous sunshine and abundant rainfall. Its spring and autumn are relatively short comparing with the summer and winter. In 2000, the average annual temperature was 17.6 ¡ãC. The city had a frost-free period of 300 days, and received an annual rainfall of 1,302 millimeters. However, nearly 50 percent of the precipitation came during the May-September flooding season, which is divided into three rainy periods, namely, the Spring Rains, the Plum Rains and the Autumn Rains.

Natural resources:

Dotted with many rivers and lakes, Shanghai is known for its rich water resources, with the water area accounting for 11 percent of its total territory. Most of the rivers are tributaries of the Huangpu River. Originated from the Taihu Lake, the 113 km Huangpu River winds through the downtown area of the city. The river is about 300 to 770 meters wide with an average width standing at 360 meters. The ice-free river is the main waterway in the Shanghai area.

The total water reserve in Shanghai stands at 2.7 billion cubic meters, 200 cubic meters per capita.

Facing the East China Sea, Shanghai has abundant aquatic resources. There are a total of more than 700 types of aquatic products in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea. In addition, Shanghai is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River where sea water and fresh water converge. The wide river mouth is home to 108 species of fish including 20 economic fishes. Shanghai also boasts a number of natural lakes with abundant bottom living things such as conch, Corbicula leana (a fresh-water variety of bivalves) and clam.

Tourism resources:

As a city of a long history, Shanghai has 13 historical sites under state protection, including characteristic gardens built during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. A group of architectures built since the 1990s have added something new to the scenic attractions of the city. The Oriental Pearl TV tower, the No. 1 skyscraper in China and the People's Square well fit into the urban landscape and compete with the Western-style architectures built along the bunds.

Energy:

Shanghai has no conventional energy reserves such as coal, petroleum or waterpower. It has to rely on energies imported from other provinces. But Shanghai turns out a certain amount of high-quality second-energy products, including electric power, oil products, coke and gas (including liquefied petroleum gas). Potential energy resources to be tapped include methane, wind power, tidal power and solar energy.

Environment and current issues:

In 2000, Shanghai achieved the general improvement of the water quality of the Suzhou River. Its water became clearer and less smelly. The overall water quality of the Huangpu River has improved. The discharges of major pollutants decreased with the total suspended granules dropping by 7.1 percent, and nitrogen oxide dropping by 8.1 percent. The per capita green land for Shanghai citizens is 4.6 square meters. Gas for cooking is available to each household in the urban area.
Total population: 16.74 million (2000).

Population growth rate: Shanghai led China in achieving a negative population growth rate in 1993. In 2000, the birth rate was 5.3 per thousand while the death rate was 7.2 per thousand; the natural population growth rate was -1.9 per thousand.

Life expectancy (average): 78.77 years in 2000, 76.71 years for men and 80.8 years for women.

Ethnicity:

Shanghai is home to the Han people and 39 ethic minorities and a few unidentified ethnic groups. Minority ethnic population totals 53,000, accounting for 0.4 percent of the city's total population. The largest minority ethic group living in Shanghai is the Hui people, followed by the Manchu; those with the smallest population include the Va, Lahu, Maonan, Primi and Jing.

Literacy:

In 2000, Shanghai boasted 37 institutes of higher learning and advanced polytechnic schools which enrolled a total of 81,300 freshmen. The total number of registered students was 226,800. Also in 2000, 12,700 students were enrolled into graduate schools and 5,868 postgraduates graduated. Since the State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Awarding Academic Degrees'' in 1981, the city has granted doctoral degree to 8,386 candidates and master's degree to 48,600 candidates.

In Shanghai, 99 percent of the children at school age go to school, and 97 percent of the junior high school graduates can continue their schooling in high schools or secondary vocational schoolsGDP: 540.876 billion yuan (2002).

In 1999, the government¡¯s poverty alleviation plan covered a poor population of 466,000 in urban districts and suburban towns. A total of 113,000 citizens in urban areas were guaranteed subsidies for basic living necessities, and 45,000 people received support in kind.

Revenues: 220.2 billion yuan in 2002, up by 10.4 percent from the previous year.

Industrial added value: 231.28 billion yuan.

Foreign trade:

In 2002, the total value of imports and exports reached US$72.66 billion, up by 19.3 percent from the previous year.

Foreign investment:

By the end of 2002, a total of 104 countries and regions have investment in Shanghai. During the year, Shanghai approved 3,012 foreign direct investment projects, up by 22.5 percent from 2001. The contractual value amounted to US$10.57 billion, of which US$5.03 billion were actually used. These two figures were 43.4 percent and 14.5 percent up from the previous year respectively.

Friendship cities:

By the end of 2000, Shanghai has established long-term friendship relations with 47 cities (provinces, states) in 39 countries. A total of 39 countries had set up consulates in Shanghai.

Pillar industries:

Auto industry, electronic and telecommunications equipment industry, manufacture of power station equipment and parts, petrochemical and fine chemical processing industry, iron and steel industry, and home electric appliances industry.

Shanghai has made great effort in promoting the industrialization process of agriculture to probe new development approaches. By the end of 2000, the construction of facilities for the first group of four modern agricultural parks had been finished. A group of projects, including vegetable, flower and edible fungus production and farming product processing, began operation. More than 300 large and medium-sized, or foreign-funded, agricultural enterprises as well as 234 modern vegetable farms had been established. Great process has also been made in building new-type agricultural industry with the establishment of various projects such as that for seed cultivation, greenhouse, biological engineering and urban greenery.

Industry:

Shanghai became China's center for textile industry in the 16th century and has been one of the largest industrial bases in the country since 1949. Now it is China¡¯s largest economic and shipping center and will gradually develop into an international center of economy, trade and shipping.

In 2002, Shanghai¡¯s state-owned and state-holding industrial enterprises made total profits of 31.82 billion yuan, making up 58.4 percent of the city's total industrial profits. The pillar industries represented by the auto industry yielded 451.788 billion yuan, making up 58.4 percent of the city¡¯s total output value.

Commerce:

In 2002, the commercial sector in Shanghai achieved 36.34 billion yuan in added value, up by 11.1 percent from the previous year. The total turnover from retails of consumer goods reached 203.52 billion yuan. The number of chain stores had reached 6,432. The annual chain business sales value amounted to 63 billion yuan, up by 21.2 percent from the previous year. Lianhua, Hualian and Nonggongshang have become the largest chain supermarkets in China. E-business and e-sales have also developed rapidly in Shanghai

Railways:

Shanghai boasts some 100 special railway lines. In the future, an international container transportation rail network characterized by directness and quickness, linking Hong Kong and Macao in the south, Russia and Europe in the north, Middle Asian countries in the west, will be established in Shanghai.

Highways:

Shanghai has a convenient highway network which extends to townships and connects with other trans-regional artery highways. The city traffic has been greatly improved with the completion of elevated roads and light rail lines.

Airports:

Shanghai has two international airports -- Hongqiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport. The annual passenger handling capacity of the two airports is 16.4 million. After the completion of the four runways of the Pudong International Airport, the annual passenger flow in Shanghai will reach 100 million.

Harbor:

The Shanghai Harbor is the largest one in Chinese mainland. Beginning in the 1980s, its annual goods handling capacity surpassed 100 million tons.

Waterways:

Shanghai has established shipping business ties with 1,100 ports in more than 200 countries and regions. The ocean navigation lines lead to Hong Kong, Taiwan (via the third place), the Republic of Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, Israel, the Mediterranean, Northwest Europe, South Africa, South America and the United States. The domestic lines lead to all major ports along the coastline. The Yangtze River navigation routes lead to all ports at the middle and lower reaches of the river. The inland navigation waterways connect large and small harbors and docks in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces